Cattle market begins to stabilise

Oli Haenlein
· 24 December, 2014

The cattle market is “demonstrating stability” as the year draws to a close, according to Eblex.

The English meat levy body’s ‘Cattle Weekly’ revealed that the GB average deadweight price edged up a fraction to 353.5p/kg in the week ended 13 December. It said: “Reports suggest thatthere is still robust competition in the market for consignments of cattle fitting supermarket specification.”

The organisation explained that the stable farmgate prices indicate better consumer demand since AHDB/Eblex slaughtering estimates suggest that throughputs of steers remained well ahead of year earlier levels.

Eblex added: “Following last week’s modest uplift in the cow trade and with the regular Christmas slowdown on the horizon, the more positive climate continued for another week. At 226.3p/kg in the latest week, another penny was added to the -04L average price.”

The EU cow market has seen prices fall sharply in Autumn due to developments in France, as well as Russian embargo. However the report said that UK prices have held up better than other member states.

Eblex’s Sheep Weekly also reported a positive picture with the lamb trade finding “considerable support in the last two months”.

“Prices have moved up from the low point in late September to be at the highest point recorded at this time of year since the record highs of 2011. With more lambs being slaughtered, demand has been much better than in recent years,” it added.